Louis and Ellie's adventure
by TheCurtisclan
Summary: With a group of bandits from Louis's past chasing them, Louis and Ellie make their escape from the mall. Chapter 4 is now up, and is the final chapter in the story, so I hope you like it and I would appreciate any feedback. Song is White Flag by Dido in chapter 2. For those confused, this is set when Riley has mysteriously dissapeared to join the fireflies.
1. The Girl

These days she was a quiet one. Strange, seeing as she used to be much more joyful back when her friend, he thought her name was Riley or something like that, was around. Louis had never really thought about girls and that, in this way at least, so he thought it was stupid that he stayed up at night thinking about a girl he barely knew. All he really knew was that her name was Ellie, and she was one of the bravest girls he had seen. Today he was finally going to get to know her, potentially befriend her. He got the usual slop they had for lunch and stood there for a second, gathering his senses. _C'mon Louis, I thought you were tired of being alone? Let's start with that. Ask her why she tends to stay away from people._ He walked over to the table she was sitting at in the left corner of the room, and sat down across from her with his arms crossed.

She pulled one of her earplugs out, the pop music blasting from them, and asked him with a confused face, "Can I help you?" It took him a couple of seconds to work up the courage to talk.

"Why are y-you sitting here? You k-know, alone?" He couldn't control the fact that he had a stammer when he was nervous, and it was quite obvious that she had noticed. She stifled a laughter, which brought Louis's confidence way down. He was about to leave when she answered his question.

"I haven't really wanted to talk to another person. Most of the people here are a bunch of douchebags and shitheads. If people really wanted to hang out with me anyway, they'd ask me. Which brings me to my counter question: why are _you _here now?" He froze up. He couldn't tell Ellie the truth. She'd think he was just some 14 year old creep. But he didn't want to lie to her.

"Well, I'm just like you. A l-loner. And I thought, why not be friends w-with another loner? Plus I'd like to get to know you." He took the first bite out of his lunch. "Sooooo… what do you say?" She played with her food, spinning her spoon around in her soup.

"I'll do it. _If _you can prove yourself to me," Ellie told him, with a mischievous smile on her face. Louis had a confused look on his face. "There's a mall a mile away from here. Come with me there and we'll meet a friend of mine that isn't a complete dickwad and we'll have a bit of a hangout. What do you say to that?"

Louis lit up with a smile on his face. "I'd love to!" He replied. " Name's Louis by the way."

"Ellie. Charmed to meet you Louis. Meet me here after curfew tonight, and we'll get this show on the road." And with that, she left, her autumn red hair swishing gracefully. _Alright Louis, that's step one. She'll be in your arms in no time. That's what you wanted, wasn't it?_ Yes. Of course. Step one completed. Louis sat back and enjoyed his soup, waiting for his next class, thinking about what was to come.

To be continued…


	2. The Mall

People often called Louis crazy. A lunatic. All because he talked to himself. He didn't mind, he thought of himself as crazy a lot as well. The only problem was that he wasn't talking to himself: he genuinely believed that there was another voice in his head, telling him what to do, almost like a conscience. You know, if a conscience was a complete asshole.

He awoke in his dirty and uncomfortable bed, wiping the sleepiness from his eyes. He always slept in his clothes, so his roommate didn't question him when he wore his light green jacket, white shirt and denim blue jeans to bed. He quietly got up, being careful not to wake his snoring roommate on the top bunk. He could smell the body odor on the sleeping teenager. But there was no way in hell that was going to stop him from seeing her. As he grabbed his own can of deodorant he had borrowed off the gun range teacher, his 'conscience' began to speak to him. _You think you're a big man, Louis? A man that's going to be able to woo Ellie at the mall tonight? I bet you won't even make a move on her. You may as well just stay in your room. It'll save you a lot of embarrassment…_

"Fuck you brain, you can't scare me off," he whispered quietly.

"What the hell are you doing, freakazoid?" Apparently he wasn't quiet enough. He spun and faced his roommate, rain pattering on the small window behind him. His roommate, Jerome, was lying on his bed, looking half asleep in his gray pajamas.

"None of your business Jerome. Just go back to sleep and worry about yourself." Jerome was generally a chill guy, the times Louis had talked with him a least, so he didn't know why he snapped at him.

"Calm down bro. I ain't going to stop whatever you're doing. Besides, the only reason a boy would be getting up now and risking detention is for a girl. I'm cool with that man. When I was your age I chased a lot of tail as well." Jerome was actually quite popular with the girls at school. 15 years old and he had already dated half the girls in school.

"N-no I'm not." He tried to hide it, but the stammer had given it away once again.

"Whatever man. So, who's the lucky lady?" Louis stared at the brown carpet, attempting to avoid eye contact, but he felt like he should probably tell him.

"That girl, E-ellie. You know, the o-one with Autumn hair?"

"Well I ain't one to judge on your choice of girls. Have fun, okay man?" And with that he went back to sleep, his long, scruffy hair covering his face. Louis set off, as determined as ever to make a move on Ellie.

Louis peeked inside of the dark cafeteria. He couldn't see two feet in front of him. He prayed that there wasn't an officer lurking around here, thinking to grab a late meal after a long day of guarding the walls. Yet there was no sign of Ellie. He stood there for a couple of seconds to see if his eyes would adjust to the darkness.

"BOO!" A voice shouted to the right of him. He fell to the ground out of terror, shielding his head with his arms, expecting an infected to bite him. Then he realized: the infected don't yell boo when they attack someone. "I totally fucking got you, dude!" She started to laugh quietly yet uncontrollably. He got up, his hand on his chest, trying to steady his fast-beating heart.

"You scared the shit out of me, Ellie," he replied, breathing rapidly.

"Glad to see you actually came. I thought you were a no-show. You ready to go?"

He looked back up at Ellie, his heart finally back to normal pace.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Ellie smiled at him and gave him a playful shove out of the way. She jogged to the cafeteria door and gestured to the door.

"Shall we?"_ Yes, shall you Louis? It's not too late to back out though._

"I'm no coward," he replied to his thoughts, as if they were real.

"What?" Ellie called to him.

"Nothing. Just thinking out loud."

He leaped across the rooftops, surprisingly being able to keep up with Ellie. He had never disobeyed a school rule before, but now that he was doing it, it was exhilarating. They passed grimy building after grimy building, until Ellie stopped on the roof of an apartment building. He lent against a doorway that he guessed led down to the building.

"You doing okay, Louis?" She asked him, a small grin on her face. He couldn't hide the fact that he was huffing and puffing, as he struggled to catch his breath.

"How… do you… manage… to not… be… super tired?" He barely managed to wheeze out between breaths.

"I've done this a few times. I've had practice."

"You mean with… that… Riley chick?" He didn't realize his mistake until it was too late. He looked up to see Ellie with her hands on her hips, staring him down.

"How do you know about that?" _See Louis, what did I tell you?_

"Oh, Riley bragged a-about it all the time. She thought you t-two were total badasses or some crap." She seemed more than happy with that answer, as she jumped down into what he assumed was the mall. As he fell to the ground, landing on his feet, there was a splash. There was water, and lots of it. Couldn't of have been more than a few inches deep though. They slugged down some stairs into the center of the mall, where they were surrounded by many stores. To his right he saw one called Dave's Burgertown. No prizes for guessing what that used to sell to people. They made their way down some weird, metal stairs down to a moist tent. Ellie peaked inside it and sat down in a chair just outside the tent. Louis sat himself across from her on a chest.

"Who're we waiting for?" He asked, looking over at the stuff that was just lying on the ground. A jacket, sheets and hell, there was a violin down there.

"A friend of mine lives here. His name's Winston. We'll have to wait until he gets back if we want to do anything." Louis leaned forward and picked up the violin that was lying on the ground and started to inspect it. "You play?"

"It's a hobby of mine. We all don't have a music player to lug around in our pockets. It's the only thing I have to remind me of my parents." He looked up from the wooden violin. "Any requests?" She looked forward and suggested songs until he found one he knew, and he started playing.

[Ellie]

I know you think that I shouldn't still love you,

Or tell you that.

But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it

Where's the sense in that?

I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder

Or return to where we were

Louis started to admire her as he played: the pitch, the tone, all perfect.

[Ellie and Louis]

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love and always will be

Louis could feel the goose bumps on his skin as she sung.

[Ellie]

I know I left too much mess and

Destruction to come back again

And I caused nothing but trouble

I understand if you can't talk to me again

And if you live by the rules of "it's over"

Then I'm sure that that makes sense

[Ellie and Louis]

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love and always will be

[Ellie]

And when we meet

Which I'm sure we will

All that was there

Will be there still

I'll let it pass

And hold my tongue

And you will think

That I've moved on...

Ellie was into it, and so was Louis. This was Ellie's moment though, her almost angelic voice mesmerizing him.

[Ellie and Louis]

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love and always will be

[Ellie]

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love and always will be.

Ellie finished the song, standing up. Louis set down the violin next to the blue chest he was sitting on and stood up as well. Ellie stepped closer towards Louis.

"You're not too bad with a violin. Although admittedly, it's kind of… you know… gay."

"Shut up," he said with a smile on his face, giving Ellie a playful shove. She took another step forward. "You're a great singer you know. If the world wasn't complete shit, you could've gone professional." Ellie was a foot away from him now._ Well Louis, prove me wrong. Right here, right now. Kiss her. _They just stood there for a couple of seconds awkwardly. Louis finally started to close the gap slowly, and Ellie looked about ready for him.

"Hey Ellie!" a voice called from further down the center. _Ooh, too bad kid. Maybe next time._ They both looked towards the voice.

Ellie gestured to a man, probably around the age of 35, 40.

"Louis, this is Winston. Winston, this is my newly appointed amigo Louis."

"Good to meet you Louis." Winston shook my hand vigorously, a leash tied around his left arm. He had a scruffy beard, which reminded him a lot of his father. He noticed a horse tied to the leash.

"Cool, you have a horse!" He said excitedly, walking towards it. Louis examined the horse, noticing the mangy mane it wore.

"Yep. Ellie told me that you guys are going to take care of a problem for me, so I'm letting you borrow her." He handed the leash to Ellie.

"What 'problem'? What are you talking about?" Louis asked, worried that it was something bad that he was about to do.

"I'll explain when we get there. For now, you know how to ride a horse?" Ellie asked. Louis nodded.

"My dad taught me. Before he…" Louis trailed off.

"Okay then. Get on; you're at the reigns," she explained, hopping onto the back of the horse." Louis nodded again, climbing onto the front of the horse. Ellie put her arms around Louis, and held onto him tight. He blushed, and set off, with Ellie giving him directions to their destination.


	3. The Kiss

_You know how easy it is to kill someone, Louis? The twist of a knife, the pull of a trigger. You want to know the deadliest weapon though? Words. They can cut thicker than any knife, burn someone more than fire. The thing is… what weapon will you use to kill your first man, Louis? _Louis's 'conscience' could be okay sometimes, other times it was just a complete asshole.

"Turn right here," Ellie commanded him, her chin resting on his right shoulder. He veered the horse right, passing and old furniture shop, looted long ago by some no good bandit. This part of the mall was almost flooded, probably a couple of feet deep. As they passed novelty stores and pawn shops, he heard Ellie start to hum a song he didn't know, one that most kids these days probably wouldn't recognize. He felt compelled to tell Ellie how he felt, right here and now. "Goddamnit!" He snapped out of his trance like state to Ellie cussing.

"What is it?" He asked as Ellie got off the horse and walked towards the end of the narrow path and stopped at a puddle that looked suspiciously deeper than the others.

"It's too deep. Whelp, I guess we have to go around," she told him disappointingly as they walked back to the horse.

"Can't we just swim? I mean it's only a dozen or so meters long! We can easily sw…" Ellie was looking towards the ground now, trying to avoid eye contact with Louis. "Unless… unless you can't swim." He got a wide grin on his face. "You can't swim, can you?" Ellie looked back up.

"Well, there may be some maneuverability in water knowledge I don't have…" She saw the grin on his face and gave him a shove. "Not everybody knows how to swim, okay!" she said defensively.

"Well we sure as hell ain't wasting time going around it, that's for sure." He waded down into the cold water and froze up. He decided to wade further until he had to start keeping himself afloat. The water was much deeper than it looked, but it was no problem to cross. "Tie up the horse to a pole."

"How are we going to get across though?" Ellie asked, obediently tying the horse up to a nearby post.

"You don't look like you weigh much. I could carry you on my back across," he said as he tried to see how deep it was.

"What? There's no way you can carry me across!" She told him, looking uneasy at the subject of possibly drowning.

"I ain't going to drop you, that's a promise." He was looking up to her, a small smile on his face. "And I keep my promises." Ellie looked towards him and gave out a long sigh and a weak smile.

"Fine. But if you let me drown, I'm coming back to haunt your ass." _It wouldn't change anything though, would it? Huh Louis? _

"Shut the fuck up," Louis whispered. He managed to control certain… urgencies… that his 'conscience' tended to have, but it was a struggling process, as it seemed to take more and more of his energy to keep it at bay.

"What was that?" Ellie asked.

"Uh… nothing Ellie."

"You sure seem to say a whole lot of nothing," Ellie complained. Louis decided not to acknowledge the statement, which left Ellie a bit pissed off. But she got over it and waded in chest deep. She gave one last sigh and hopped on Louise's back. She put her arms around his shoulders where her hands connected on his chest. She was actually lighter than he first thought. He started to slowly make his way across. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your father? He must've been with you for most of your life if he taught you all these things."

"My mom died when I was one, so he had to take care of me alone. He managed to survive with a bandit group." He got to the other side of the body of water and let Ellie climb up onto a ledge before she hauled him up. "I honestly was disappointed in my dad. But he was my dad, and he did teach me a lot of cool stuff. It must have been three years this year that he died." Louis suddenly felt down now, and honestly wanted to cry. It was obvious Ellie was feeling down too now.

"Consider yourself lucky. I never knew my parents, so all I can really remember is being in a military school." She held back on telling him about how she knew Marlene, leader of the Fireflies. They both were very depressed now. "You know what? I've got something that'll cheer us up." She took off her backpack, unzipped it and took out something. A book, it looked like.

"What? A Book? How's that going to help?"

"Just hang on," She told him, flipping through the pages of the book. She got a goofy grin on her face. "You ready for this?" Louis stopped walking as Ellie began to read. "Ahem. Did you hear about the guy that had his whole left side cut off?"

"What the hell is that?" Louis asked, not sure what was happening.

"It's okay, he's all right now!" Louis let out a small laugh along with Ellie.

"That was fucking stupid. What is that?"

"It's a pun book. It's so cool! I've read it a few times already. These things never get old." She flipped through a few more pages. "I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me." Louis thought this was stupid, yet one of the best moments of his life so far. He didn't like Ellie any more than he did now. "The other day I opened the door for a clown. It was a nice Jester." Louis couldn't hold himself. He burst out laughing, not at how funny it was, but how dumb it was. And he loved it.

"I got to admit, that is gold." Louis looked at Ellie to see her put the book back in her backpack and stand up, looking down as if she was trying to avoid eye contact with him. _Go on, Louis. You fucked up the first time, you can't do it again. But then again, you're you, right? _Louis took a step forward, almost as if his 'conscience' had control over him. Ellie hadn't noticed it yet, so, under his control now, he took a couple of steps, and almost closed the gap until he stood a couple of feet away. Ellie had looked up now, and gave him a smile. _Go on Louis. If you're in such control of yourself, then admit your feelings to her. Or better yet show her. Before I do it for you._ He liked his 'conscience' when it was like this. When it wasn't giving him bad thoughts or hallucinations, it genuinely cared for what he wanted. "Ellie, there's something I got to admit." He guessed Ellie already knew what he was going to say, but it didn't look like she was deterred in any way.

BANG! A door burst open behind Ellie. They both turned to see what was at the door to a small grocery store to the right of them, expecting an infected to run through that door and kill them both. There wasn't an infected though, but there was a lot of scurrying.

"Fucking rats. But they did open the door to where we needed to go. C'mon!" Ellie jogged to the door, flinging her backpack over her back. _Can't seem to catch a break, can you Louis?_ He jogged into the grocery store after Ellie. He saw her run down one on of the 8 aisles, towards what used to be the deli section of the store, and then through a sliding door to the storage room in the back of the store.

"Ellie, where are we going?" He asked, passing many boxes opened long ago by survivors or military.

"It's not far now. Trust me." It's not that Louis didn't trust her, it was just he was wondering what it was he was getting into. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon." They finally stopped at a dead end where he saw a high ledge on top of the wall leading into a vent.

"So, what now?" Louis asked, as Ellie walked over to the wall and stood beside it.

"You give me a lift up. C'mon. You carried me on your back across water you can lift me up into a vent."

"What about me?"

"I can pull you up into it after I'm up there." Now Louis was the one who wasn't sure about Ellie's strength. But that was part of the reason why he liked her. She was unpredictable. Walked over and got into position beneath the vent. Ellie put one foot on Louise's cupped hands, and he hauled her up. She grabbed and pulled herself up into the vent. "Alright, your turn." She held her hand out. Louis took a few steps back, and got a running start. He got a couple steps up the wall and manage to grab hold of her hand. With a little bit of a struggle, he managed to get up there. The vent was hot, but at least it was dry. He began to follow Ellie through it, wondering what was about to happen.

"_Now listen son, the only person that should know about your condition is the head of the military orphanage, alright?"_

"_But why can't the other kids know?"_

"_Because we don't want another situation we had with the bandits happening again, do we? It's for your own safety."_

"_But what if I can't keep it in? The hallucinations, the voice. What if it just becomes too much?"_

"_Listen, you have to keep it inside. You let it control you, you let this condition control your mind, then you could potentially harm someone you care about."_

"_What was it you called it dad? This thing I have?"_

"_I think I read that it was… schizophrenia. Now I've got to leave you here, okay? I don't know whether I'll be back. But I love you Louis. Don't you forget about that."_

Louis and Ellie finally made their way out of the vents into a small room with a single door in front of them. Ellie opened the door to what reminded Louis of the meat storage room the bandits he lived with had.

"Ellie, what are we doing here?" he asked, leaning on a counter in the corner of the room to rest his tired legs.

"There." She opened the double doors leading out of the room, and pointed across the butcher shop they were in to a shop across the walkway that looked like some sort of… electronic store he guessed. They walked through the butcher shop and across the walkway to the electronic store. "So here's the thing. Winston needs this store open to set up some defenses or some crap. But, more importantly, there's something I want from in there. Come look." They both looked through the glass. "The displays stand near the front. You see it?" Louis looked through the dirty glass towards the displays stand she was talking about, where a cassette tape sat upon it. "I've been trying to get into this store for ages, but I can't seem to get through the glass. You get into the store and grab me the tape, and find a way to open these doors; I'll consider your friendship." Louis stepped away and studied the glass doors.

"Why can't you just break the glass? It can't be that hard." He winded back his hand and formed a fist, and swung it forward. He wasn't prepared for the pain that came after that. He fell onto his knees holding his hand, where there was a big red mark from where he punched the glass.

"You really are a dipshit, aren't you?" She asked him, a smile on her face and hands on her hips.

"Never underestimate my ingenuity, Ellie," he replied standing up. "Alright. Stay here. I'm going to scour the area for another way in."

"I wouldn't plan on it!" She called out to him as he turned a corner to the right of the store. _You ever going to tell her about your little secret, Louis? You want her, you're going to have to be honest with her. _

"I promised my dad I wouldn't, so no." He tore down a metal sheet on the side of the store. Nothing. _Come on. You can't even trust her? Because I thought you did. _"Just tell me something. One moment it's like you're genuinely caring for my well being. The next moment you're putting dark thoughts in my head. Why is that?" _I don't know. You probably know more about that than I do. I am just a hallucination, aren't I? A figment of your imagination._ "Of course. That's your fucking answer to that question every time." He found no way in on the right side, so he turned back to check the left side of the store. _Well it's going to come up sometime. You talk to yourself, don't you? You can either say that you were talking to yourself, and drive her off with how crazy you are. Or, you can admit to your condition and still drive her off, only this time you'll be telling the truth._ "I don't have to admit anything. I've kept it secret for three years, I can keep it longer."

"You okay Louis?" Ellie asked, sitting on a bench outside the store. She was listening to her Walkman, one ear bud out to be able to hear Louis.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, tell me why you're not doing this."

"Because I've got you here to do it for me."

"Are you usually this lazy?"

"There's a difference between getting someone else to do it for you, and being lazy Louis."

"Bullshit there is! They're practically the same thing!"

"You wouldn't understand. It's a smart person thing." Louis smiled and shook his head.

"Oh whatever you say Miss Ellie." He bowed to her and got back to what he was doing. _You keep your promises, don't you? If you're so confident about yourself, make a promise to never tell another living person about your condition. _He turned a corner to the left side of the store, where he could see a couple of bathrooms on the side of it. "I'm not able to make that promise. Especially to myself." He opened the boy's bathroom, checking each stall and found no way into the store. He exited and moved into the girl's bathroom. _What was it you said Louis? You'd rather keep the pain inside and destroy yourself, than let it out and destroy everyone else? Tell me, at what point does it go from your choice… to mine?_ The truth was, Louis didn't know. It could be never; then again it could be five minutes from now. But he didn't want to admit this to his 'conscience'. There was a door in the girls bathroom that read 'staff only', and its lock was broken and the door was open. He entered the small janitor supply room and searched around the closet sized space. He pulled away a stand holding a range of cleaning equipment and revealed a small hole that could easily fit a crawling adult.

He crawled under the hole, where he found himself behind the counter of the store, where he could see different electronic gizmos and gadgets. He jumped over the counter and walked through the aisles up to the displays stand where the cassette stood. He grabbed it and went up to the glass door and saw the problem. Some asshole had put a pipe between the handles of the door. He pulled out the pipe and opened the doors to see Ellie slowly clapping.

"Well, aren't you my hero!" she exclaimed with a sarcastic voice.

"Well, if you're going to be like that, I guess you don't want the cassette then…"

"Hardy-Har," Ellie took the cassette from his hand. She put the tape in her backpack and stood back up. "Thanks. I guess." _One more try Louis. Otherwise you'll never have the courage to do it._

"Ellie, I've got to say somet…" He was cut off when Ellie jumped forward. And… and… kissed him. He didn't need to make a move. She managed to make the first one. He was too surprised to do anything at first, but he finally understood what was happening. He held her, and felt like never letting go. It lasted 8 seconds, but it seemed like a lifetime. They finished, and they stood there, Louis holding Ellie tightly. Suddenly, Ellie got out of his hold.

"I… I need to go." And she ran off down the walkway.

"ELLIE!" he called after her, confused about what had just happened. _Looks like you did it Louis. You drove her off. Like I said._ "I'm sure it wasn't me. I just need to find out what's wrong with her." Louis ran after her at a running pace. He felt tired for some reason. Just really tired. And his head hurt. He fell to the ground on his hands and knees and felt like… like… he was on fire. Burning. He looked up, his body still burning, and saw that everything around him was on fire. The mall was on FIRE! He got up, feeling weak at the knees, and stumbled the way Ellie had run. There was smoke everywhere, and he felt like he was choking. He managed to stumble around the corner, barely keeping himself up, and saw Ellie standing there with her back turned to him. "Ellie, what's happening? Are you alright? This fire is everywhere! We need to go now!" She didn't reply, keeping her back turned. "Ellie?" was the last thing he said before he was engulfed in flames.

Louis awoke with a snap, gasping for his breath. He stood up, all the pain suddenly gone along with the fire. He got his balance and waited for his vision to focus. _You can't escape from your condition Louis. Strong emotions just strengthen it. There'll be more of that to come, trust me. _He realized he was outside an arcade, where he could see Ellie inside.

"Fuck it. It's worth it if I'm with her." He walked into the arcade, where Ellie was sitting on the ground with her head in her hands. "Ellie? What's wrong?" She looked up, and had looked like she'd been crying.

"I don't know what came over me. I can't get attached to someone."

"Why not?"

"Because they always leave me. I always end up alone. Plenty of people have done it before, who's to say you won't?" Louis sat down beside her.

"I'm not going to do that Ellie."

"Are you able to promise me that?"

"I ain't able to make that promise. I can't keep that promise."

"Of course."

"But, I promise I can try my damn hardest to stick with you as long as I can. Why are you scared about being alone?"

"I don't know. It's just something I can't explain. Do you have any fears?"

"A fear? There's one fear I have. Firstly, can you keep a secret?"

"I guess."

"I have a medical condition. It causes me to… hallucinate. Only I'm not able to tell the difference between a hallucination and reality. And I have this voice in my head causing me to either contradict myself or make me inspired to do shit. It's called schizophrenia. I do my best to keep it back but… I don't know if I can keep it up. I fear that if I let it out, I'll harm someone I really like. Like you." Ellie was speechless. But she did something Louis didn't expect. She hugged him.

"I'm so sorry. My problems must seem pathetic compared to yours."

"It doesn't matter. Let's go get the horse back to Winston. We can hang out some more tomorrow and talk about us." They got up and were about to leave when they heard footsteps from the floor below them.

"You find the boy and you bring him to me. We've waited three years for this, so don't fuck up."

"Oh no," Louis said, a shocked expression on his face.

"Do you know those guys Louis?"

"They're old enemies. We need to leave." And with that, they sneaked out of the arcade, Ellie's hand in Louis's.


	4. The Escape

"_Listen Louis, you may have some medical condition, but that doesn't mean you get any special treatment from me and the guards. This kind of behavior is unacceptable here!" Louis sat in the head's office, his head down. The head got up from his chair and walked over to Louis. "What were you thinking? A kid is currently getting bandaged up because you stabbed him with a shard of glass!"Louis looked up._

"_I didn't mean to. I was defending myself."_

"_Defending yourself? The kid was asking you if you played violin!" The head sat on his desk, all sorts of files on his desk. "Listen, your father told me you could control it. But if you can't, I'll have to toss you out into the general population. I can't have dangerous people in this military institute."_

Louis pressed himself against the wall and peaked around it. There were a lot of them, all armed with pistols or baseball bats and pipes. He gave a signal and he and Ellie moved into more cover. He saw a man in front of them, armed with a nailed baseball bat. He called out to his friend, who walked over to him.

"This is fucking ridiculous. We're hunting a 14 year old boy because of something that happened three years ago. Why can't Gerald get the hell over it?" The man said with his baseball bat slung over his shoulder.

"He never let's down a grudge. It was the same for the boy's father. But it gets us fed and gives us shelter, so let's get this over with so we can head back." The men disbanded in opposite directions, leaving space for Louis and Ellie to run over into a small booth that stood in the middle of the path.

"How do these men know you, Louis?" Ellie asked.

"They were part of the bandit group my dad was in. I may or may not have shot their leader."

"Was it because of a hallucination?"

"Bingo. He had a gun in his hand, so my brain made an assumption that he was a threat to me. It's the reason I was put into the institute." Louis peaked over the booth and saw a few men searching the store in front of them. He grabbed a plate he found in a cupboard and through it into the store next to the one the men were in.

"What the hell was that?" one of the men shouted. The group ran into the store, hoping that the boy had gone into the store. The real Louis ran into the shop in front of them and hid behind the counter. Louis guessed this was a glasses store from many posters saying things like 'Buy one pair of glasses get another free'. They kept weaving through the stores, avoiding the bandits, until they came upon a bandit armed with an assault rifle.

"That's Gerald. He's the only one that lugs that gun around." Louis was about to move when a few of the bandits regrouped with Gerald.

"Gerald, a few boys from the west side of the mall reported that Louis was seen with someone. A girl."

"A girl? Goddamnit! We only want the boy. If the girl poses a threat to you _then_ you eliminate her. If not, just leave her be."

"Even if she did pose a threat Gerald, we don't want to kill her. It's bad enough we have to kill this boy, but a teenage girl that has nothing to do with this? The only reason we're doing this is because you provide us with the essentials! Me and the boys are thinking that maybe you aren't fit to be our leader anymore."

"Is that so?" Gerald pulled his pistol out of his holster. "Well, I guess you do make some valid points." And then Gerald shot him. The rest of the men just stood there, shocked at what just happened. "Anyone else questioning my authority?" No-one moved a muscle. No-one spoke. "Good. Get back to finding the boy." He walked away, leaving his men to move out one at a time.

"Jesus. Was he like this before you shot him?" Ellie asked Louis.

"Yeah. He was always a shithead with a thirst for power, but he was less of one before I shot him though." They moved down some stairs to the first floor, where there were more bandits than there was on the second floor. They, again, weaved through the stores, avoiding the bandits. "Are there any other ways out of here besides the way we came?" Ellie looked around from the small office supplies store they were in.

"Yeah. C'mon, follow me." Louis obeyed as Ellie led him across the path to the other side. They found a hallway leading to the delivery area. This place was basically untouched by the bandits. At least they hoped so. Ellie went over to one of the big gateways and tried to lift it up. "Come help me with this Louis." He grabbed the gateway and tried pulling it up along with Ellie. It slowly went up, eventually becoming big enough to crouch through.

"Ellie, you first. Find something to hold the gate up." Before Ellie got through, Louis felt a strong force hit him from the side, knocking him to the ground.

"Louis!" He barely heard Ellie call. He tried to get up, but he felt a force keeping him pinned to the ground. He gained his senses and saw one of the bandits standing there, a foot on Louis's chest.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I'll be eating well tonight." The bandit held onto a pistol in his hand, which was pointed at Louis's head. "I'm sorry though kid. I really am. But I gotta survive. It's nothing personal." Louis closed his eyes, waiting for the shot, but it never came. Only a pained curse came out of the bandit's mouth. Louis looked up to see the bandit holding his head, obviously in pain. He didn't wait for the bandit to react. Louis kicked him in the shins, sending him to his knees. He got up, where he saw Ellie standing not too far away, and kicked the bandit onto the ground, where he lay clutching his leg.

"Ellie! Let's get this gateway open." Ellie ran over and gave all her strength. "What happened anyway?"

"A brick to his fucking face, that's what happened." They got the gateway open again, and Ellie crouched through it. She grabbed a nearby box and put it between the gateway. They ran down the delivery area driveway, thinking they were safe. They were dead wrong. There were a dozen or so men waiting out there, who saw them making their way down the driveway.

"THERE THEY ARE!" One of the men shouted, taking a potshot at Louis. Lucky he was a terrible shooter and completely missed. Ellie grabbed Louis's shoulder and pulled him to the left, taking off at sprinting speed. He took off after her, the bandits following a couple of dozen meters behind them. They jumped over the fence surrounding the mall and ran into an apartment complex nearby. They ran up the stairs where Louis heard the bandits enter the building after them. They got up to the roof after 23 flights of stairs and Louis was too determined to escape to be tired. They jumped onto the next rooftop, and the next, and the next. Once they were sure there wasn't any bandits following them they stopped and rested.

"These guys don't… let up, do they?" Ellie asked, leaning on the railing of the building.

"They really… hate me… you know?" Louis started to feel the tiredness now.

"C'mon. let's get out o…" Ellie didn't finish the sentence before the railing she was leaning on gave way to rust and Ellie fell down. She managed to grab onto the roof before she fell, narrowly avoiding toppling down the building.

"Ellie! Are you okay?" Louis run up the ledge she was hanging off and grabbed her hand.

"I'm fine! Just pull me up." But Louis's hearing started to block out sound, almost all sound, except for one thing. _Drop her. She's a threat Louis. A threat to your normal way of life. Who's to say she will keep your secret, huh? And she's a cause of strong feeling for you. The hallucinations will become more frequent. Would you want that Louis? _Louis thought about it, trying to make sense of what to do. "Louis? Please pull me up! What the fuck are you doing?" Ellie saw the contemplating look on his face, and realized what was happening.

"_I have this voice in my head causing me to either contradict myself or make me inspired to do shit."_ Louis was thinking about whether to drop her or not.

"Louis! Listen to me! Pull me up! You can't do whatever it tells you to!" _Listen Louis. I'll be here whether you like it or not. She'll last, what? A year? Two at the most. Just let go._ Louis got a determined express on his face, and hauled Ellie up onto the building. Ellie stood there, trying to stop her heart from beating too hard.

"Lucky I decided to choose you. I'm really sorry. But we need to go." Ellie jumped and gave him a tight hug, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Louis hugged her back. "I guess I was pretty stupid to even think about it. I really am sorry." He leaned out, holding Ellie's shoulders with his hands. He wiped a strand of hair off her forehead, and smiled at her. He let go when he heard the door leading into the building they were on burst opened. Three men rushed out, one of them Gerald.

"You can't escape me Louis!" He aimed his assault rifle and took a shot at the teenagers. He narrowly missed when they ducked and ran and jumped into the next building.

They smashed through a glass window, Louis being the one to break the glass. He was about to get up when he felt a searing pain in his leg. He rolled up the leg of his denim jeans and saw that he had a deep gash from where a shard of glass cut him deeply. He could barely stand up, let alone walk. But he had to tough it out. They made their way down the hallway of an office building. Louis's leg was very fucked up, as he had to keep leaning on the wall the way down the hallway. Ellie went to help him nut he pushed her away.

"I'm don't need help." He told her.

"Well can you walk?"

"Yeah."

"Then fucking walk, Louis!" They heard thumping down the hall way, which they assumed were the bandits. Ellie opened a door leading to another hallway. Ellie blocked the door with a cabinet that was nearby. As they made their way down the hallway, they heard banging at the door. They found a staircase and began to descend it, eventually making it to the bottom. Louis stopped at the door, staring down at the ground. "Louis, what's wrong? We need to go, now!" Louis looked up, tears coming through his eyes.

"They're never gonna stop coming, Ellie. They're going to hunt me down, and if they see me with you, they'll only kill you too. I can't keep that on my conscience."

"Louis… That won't happen. They wouldn't dare try a stunt like this if we're at the institute."

"You don't know them. They'll get through eventually get in. Gerald would make sure of it." He wiped his eyes with his jacket, trying to wipe away the tears, unsuccessfully.

"Fuck Gerald. I don't want to just ditch you Louis. If you're not going anywhere, then neither am I." Louis grabbed Ellie by her arms.

"I can't have you do this because of me. I'm sorry." He pushed Ellie through the doorway leading into the lobby of the building and shut the door tight. He locked the door from the inside, where he could hear Ellie banging on the door. Eventually Ellie stopped and leaned against the door, where Louis was already leaning against it. They both slid down the door, thinking about what had just happened.

Ellie's Side

Ellie sat on the ground, her head in her hands. "What was that, Louis? Are you stupid? Or do you like me too much?" She started to cry, her face growing redder with each sob. "I know you only promised to stay with me as long as possible, but I didn't know it would've been only a few hours. Why do I always end up alone? Maybe I'm supposed to end up alone. To not have anyone to talk to, have fun with; compel to share my feelings with. I hate being alone."

Louis's Side

Louis sat with one leg holding his hand up. "What did I just do? I'm gonna die now. But at least she's safe." _Yeah. She is Louis. It was worth it. _"Your agreeing with me?" _May as well. These are your last moments after all._ "Thanks for reminding me." He heard the bandits break through the staircase door upstairs. He put his head on his knee, ready for death._ How about we do something about that Louis?_ "What do you mean?" He looked up and realized his 'conscience' had made another hallucination. He was back at the institute, sitting on a lounge in his dorm. And Ellie was there, her head lying in his lap. But he didn't mind that this was a hallucination. He enjoyed it. "Thanks," he told himself. He began playing with hallucination Ellie's hair.

"There you are Louis," he heard a voice talk to him. He looked at the source of the voice. He was sure that it was Gerald, but all he saw was his father standing there. He thought he heard the click of a gun cocking, but he wasn't sure if that was a hallucination or real life. He closed his eyes enjoying the moments before his real life death came upon him. Then gunshots came. Only they came from a full clip. He awoke from his hallucination to find Gerald and his two goons full of bullet holes. Behind them stood a man, armed with an assault rifle, reloading his gun. He moved to the side so a woman could walk up to him. She crouched and put her hand on his shoulder.

"You okay son?" she asked him.

"I have a big gash on my leg. I can barely walk."

"Alright then. Derrick, help him up the stairs. We'll wait until morning to get back to base."

"Who are you, lady?"

"Name's Marlene, and I'm about to show you the light."

END.


End file.
